Walk · Cumbria

Siddick Ponds and the Oldside shore

Workington · CA14 1NQ

3.4MILES

1h 40mON FOOT

30mCLIMB

CircularSHAPE

Off-road 75% 25% shares tarmac with cars

Field & moor path 30%Lane & track 45%Road with traffic 25%

Our drawing of the route — the shape of the walk, not a navigation aid. Carry OS Explorer on the hill. Off-lead information here is what walkers reported or what signage allows — never our advice. Whether and when a dog is off the lead is the owner’s decision and legal responsibility; keep dogs under control near livestock and follow signs on the day.

Starts at

Dunmail Park shopping centre car park, off the A596 between Workington and Siddick CA14 1NQ

Parking

Free at Dunmail Park, several hundred spaces, busy on Saturdays but never full at the far end nearest the cycle path

Directions to the start →

A flat industrial-edge circuit north of Workington that is far better than it sounds: out on the old mineral railway embankment, now a cycle path, past the reedbed and two large ponds of Siddick Ponds SSSI, then west onto the Oldside slag banks and the open shore, and back along the coast. Siddick is one of Cumbria's most important bird sites, which is why the council designates it a dogs-on-lead area, and the reedbed edges are steep and soft. Access is free all year and parking at Dunmail Park is free.

THE SMALL PRINTSiddick Ponds Nature Reserve (CA14 1NQ) is a Schedule B dogs-on-lead area under Cumberland Council Public Spaces Protection Order (No. 1) 2024. So is Jane Pit, Clay Flatts (CA14 2DB) further south. Breach is an offence liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 3 on the standard scale.

House rules, decoded

Livestock — leads on

REGION · CUMBRIA

GRID · 54.6640, -3.5570

SOURCE · HTTPS://WWW.CUMBERLAND.GOV.UK/SITES/DEFAULT/FILES/2025-05/APPENDIX%201%20PUBLIC%20SPACE%20PROTECTION%20ORDER.PDF

Siddick Ponds and the Oldside shore

House rules, decoded

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